Take a first look at WGN America's 'Manhattan' cast

The scientists behind the creation of the atomic bomb will get to work on July 27, when Manhattan premieres on WGN America (10 p.m. ET/PT). USA TODAY offers an exclusive first look (below) at the cast of the 1940s period drama.

Manhattan, named for the real-world Manhattan Project of World War II, follows the brilliant scientists who gathered in remote Los Alamos, N.M., in a race to develop the bomb before the enemy, with the world's fate thought to be hanging in the balance.

John Benjamin Hickey (The Big C) plays the project leader, Frank Winter, who leads a team that includes Glen Babbit (Daniel Stern, Home Alone), a mentor to the younger members; Charlie Isaacs (Ashley Zukerman, Rush), a "wunderkind" scientist; and Helen Prins (Katja Herbers, De Storm), one of the few female scientists working on the project. Olivia Williams (Dollhouse) plays Frank's wife, Liza, a botanist who discovers environmental changes, and Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards) plays Abby Isaac, Charlie's wife and an unlikely leader of the spouses.

The 13-episode season opens in 1943 and series creator and executive producer Sam Shaw (Masters of Sex) says he has mapped out stories that could span multiple seasons, should the series be renewed.

At its heart, Manhattan is a story of secrets — big and small, those affecting the security of the world and others influencing individual lives – in a place whose existence was classified.

Despite the period setting, its themes resonate in 2014, including "the question of how we treat issues of secrecy in our culture, what kind of faith and trust we place in hands of politicians and our leaders, how we wield military force in the world and what the morality of power is." Shaw says. "I did a lot of research and what I found is that when you read about the history of the military-industrial complex in this country and the birth of military secrecy, all roads lead back to the New Mexico desert. It came to feel like the fundamental origins story of 21st-century America and the world in a way. It was the moment when this one America ceased to exist and another was born."

Some Manhattan scientists have questions about the moral implications of their work; others don't. "I don't think it's the objective of this show to make a statement about the morality of the bomb or adjudicate," Shaw says. "There's an incredibly complicated set of moral and existential questions connected to this moment, when America became a superpower."

The Manhattan set sprawls over 12 acres in New Mexico, a setting that allows Manhattan Project scientists from around the country — and viewers — to take in "this austere and beautiful and strange landscape," Shaw says.

The characters are fictional, but combine elements of real people. Historical figures are referenced, but the series isn't trying to be a docudrama, says executive producer Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing), who is directing three of the 13 episodes, including the first two.

"It wasn't so much about telling the factual truth, but telling the emotional truth of what was going on there, what it felt like to be in this place where once you entered, you couldn't leave; what if felt like to be transported from a rather traditional lifestyle into this kind of a POW camp that was all in transition, with no sidewalk, no addresses," he says. "What would that be like for the individual who went there? Where did the kids go to school? What did your family life feel like? What was your relationship to your co-workers? What was the level of competition? And what did those secrets do to you? Those are the stories that haven't been told about Los Alamos."

Manhattan is the second original series from WGN America, Tribune Co.'s Chicago-based superstation, which is available in 72 million homes. Salem premiered in April.